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NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on a very conservative appeals court that made a series of important and controversial decisions that made it to the Supreme Court this past term. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was upheld by the Supreme Court on its ruling that a key part of the Violence Against Women Act was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court rejected the 4th Circuit's decision that the Miranda warnings to a criminal suspect were not necessary if a court were confident the defendant's confession was given voluntarily.

THINKING -- Commentator Donald McCaig says the countryside can be noisy, with the sounds of thunderstorms or the peeping of frogs and bleating of sheep. But on summer evenings it's quiet enough to hear yourself think. He says that's unlike the city, where the challenge is not so much the din, as knowing what the noises mean. (2:30)NOTE: MUSIC AFTER THIS PIECE WAS HARMONICA VIRTUOSO RICHARD HUNTER, FROM HIS CD "THE SECOND ACT OF BEING FREE" ON TURTLE HILL PRODUCTIONS, PO BOX 651, MONROE, ct 06468-0651. PHONE: 203-459

NPR's Ted Clark reports the summit at Camp David has reached a critical stage. President Clinton is holding intensive talks with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, and he is expected to decide within the next day or so whether there is any hope for a breakthrough.

Playwright and Commentator Thom Jones talks about basketball and "Yo Mama" jokes, in a piece adapted from his play, "Birth of the Boom."

Karen Michel reports on the Alice Neel retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Painter of New York's famous and not-so-famous, Neel's uncompromising adherence to figurative painting at the height of abstract expressionism left her outside the city's art scene for much of her life. The Whitney exhibit is the first major retrospective of Alice Neel's artwork since her death in 1984.

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about the possibility that Texas Governor George W. Bush will choose former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney as his running mate. Bush is expected to make the announcement today.

NPR's Peter Kenyon profiles possible Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney. While critics point to his oil-company connections and previous health problems, Republicans say that Cheney is an established party man with foreign policy experience in Congress and in the executive branch.

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports that San Diego is trying a new campaign to encourage more courteous use of cell phones. Cell phone maker Nokia and the San Diego city government are teaming up to post signs asking cell phone users to turn off their ringers, or their phones, in public places such as churches, libraries and movie theaters.

Robert talks with Suzanne Rodgers, Northwest Editor of the Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland, about the prisoners who had been released under the Good Friday peace agreement. Some of the former prisoners are now working as taxi drivers and club bouncers, while others have gotten jobs doing "community work."

NPR'S Jim Zarroli reports that Deutsche Telekom and Voicestream Wireless made it official today. The German telecom giant will acquire the Bellvue, Washington company in a stock and cash deal valued at more than 50-billion-dollars. The deal, if approved, would create a wireless phone service capable of operating in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The merger may face stiff opposition in Washington, though. Some lawmakers are concerned that the German government holds a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom.